GOVERNOR TARKIN: Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
LEIA: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
> The answer to this question is, WE DON'T KNOW, and furthermore, IT DOESN'T MATTER.
Nice post, however I believe that questions such as these most certainly matter.
Let us not forget that around the end of the 1800's Physics was a fairly stagnant field. All of Quantum Theory followed from Max Planck's simple introduction of a constant to relate energy and frequency of radiation that classical physics did not account for.
Imagine what another century of such progress could usher in.
Assuming that this could be made a reality, it really has the potential to be revolutionary beyond merely avoiding the problems that we are facing in Florida.
If the entire country is able to cast their vote just as fast as their representative can walk from their desk to the head speaker, why not allow individual citizens to vote directly in the house? Admittedly, getting rid of our representatives would probably be a Bad Thing (Think national votes being decided 173 to 39:) But why not allow a system where your representative casts your "default" vote if you choose not to vote, while you still retain the power to bypass your representative on issues that you feel strongly about?
As an aside, when my Mom took me to see Congress in action (incidentally, the last time I have been) about 20% of the representative where inside the chamber. Then some representative from Tennesse (I forget his name) "insulted" another representative. The house proceded to spend the next 1.5 hours arguing over whether the Gentleman from Tennessee would apoligize! They eventually decided to vote on the matter, for which almost all of the representatives that where not present in whatever (obviously unimportant) previous matter was being discussed showed up for. Boy, was that a learning experience for a kid of 13 who was so assured of how incredible his country's government was.
No one is so bold to assert that we entirely understand our universe, we have come very far, but there is undoubtably more to do, exactly how much more is anyone's guess.
One of the areas of physics that still entertains much controversy are such extreme situations such as the Big Bang and the singularity of a black hole. IANA Physicist, but I think that various incarnations of Superstring Theory impose a minimum distance of space called a Planck length (10^-44m I believe) that solves many such problems dealing with infinity such as the Big Bang, singularities, and quantum foam.
At any rate, the real mind trip is that because nothing ever escapes the event horizon of a black hole, anything could be inside, even another universe. In all the laws of physics, nothing conflicts with the possibility that our entire universe is contained within a black hole of another universe.
If anyone is at all interested in this stuff, make sure to pick up a copy of The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, easily the best 15$ you will ever spend.
Slashdot Mirror
From: http://www.bus.miami.edu/~jdavis/Starwars/sw-scrip t.html
GOVERNOR TARKIN: Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.
LEIA: The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.
> The answer to this question is, WE DON'T KNOW, and furthermore, IT DOESN'T MATTER.
Nice post, however I believe that questions such as these most certainly matter.
Let us not forget that around the end of the 1800's Physics was a fairly stagnant field. All of Quantum Theory followed from Max Planck's simple introduction of a constant to relate energy and frequency of radiation that classical physics did not account for.
Imagine what another century of such progress could usher in.
Assuming that this could be made a reality, it really has the potential to be revolutionary beyond merely avoiding the problems that we are facing in Florida.
:) But why not allow a system where your representative casts your "default" vote if you choose not to vote, while you still retain the power to bypass your representative on issues that you feel strongly about?
If the entire country is able to cast their vote just as fast as their representative can walk from their desk to the head speaker, why not allow individual citizens to vote directly in the house? Admittedly, getting rid of our representatives would probably be a Bad Thing (Think national votes being decided 173 to 39
As an aside, when my Mom took me to see Congress in action (incidentally, the last time I have been) about 20% of the representative where inside the chamber. Then some representative from Tennesse (I forget his name) "insulted" another representative. The house proceded to spend the next 1.5 hours arguing over whether the Gentleman from Tennessee would apoligize! They eventually decided to vote on the matter, for which almost all of the representatives that where not present in whatever (obviously unimportant) previous matter was being discussed showed up for. Boy, was that a learning experience for a kid of 13 who was so assured of how incredible his country's government was.
No one is so bold to assert that we entirely understand our universe, we have come very far, but there is undoubtably more to do, exactly how much more is anyone's guess. One of the areas of physics that still entertains much controversy are such extreme situations such as the Big Bang and the singularity of a black hole. IANA Physicist, but I think that various incarnations of Superstring Theory impose a minimum distance of space called a Planck length (10^-44m I believe) that solves many such problems dealing with infinity such as the Big Bang, singularities, and quantum foam. At any rate, the real mind trip is that because nothing ever escapes the event horizon of a black hole, anything could be inside, even another universe. In all the laws of physics, nothing conflicts with the possibility that our entire universe is contained within a black hole of another universe. If anyone is at all interested in this stuff, make sure to pick up a copy of The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, easily the best 15$ you will ever spend.